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Frontiers July 2015 Issue

After parts are received at the site’s
Materials Marketplace warehouse and
marshaling yard, they are organized
and prepared for delivery to the precise
spots they are needed in the factory
and on the production line. New,
low-sided vehicles and trailers that are
easier to load and unload then deliver
the parts and kits to the factory at
regular intervals. Once the process is
more routine, Woodard said, automated
vehicles could make the deliveries.
Deliveries are made as often as
every two hours for a continuous flow
of parts to the production lines, which
reduces the need to stage supply carts
and other pieces alongside the airplane
for long periods of time.
The shift to the Materials Marketplace
approach launched at the end of 2014, so
it’s still a work in progress, Woodard said.
In the first few months, employees have
identified and worked through challenges
to implementing the new supply strategy.
Kerry Snell, a first-line manager in
the Materials Marketplace, said there
have been some bumps in the road,
but that was expected.
So far, there are early indications
that the new system is working, according
to Snell, but more work is ahead.
The changes to streamline inventory
management have enabled employees
to transfer to other jobs at the Renton
site, Snell added, but no employee
reductions. The aim is to have people
working safer and more productively
through new processes and technology
that support record production rates
and improve quality, not to reduce jobs.
Shelley Phillips, a Lean+ practitioner
for 737 Materials Management, said
she and others in the program already
have seen a “culture shift” as employees
have started embracing the new
system. She added that employees also
have been willing to point out where
improvements could be made or when
things don’t go as smoothly as hoped.
“It’s not a culture where anyone will
get beat up over it. It’s about moving
forward,” Shelley said.
While Renton works to have the new
processes and better flow of inventory
and parts to the factory floor fully in
place by the year’s end, the Everett
and South Carolina sites have begun
planning to change their materials
management processes in the same
way Renton has, Woodard noted.
Meanwhile, even after decades of
improving commercial airplane production
in Renton, the site continues to evolve.
“Change is no longer an event
around here,” Woodard said. “It’s
what we do every day.” n
eric.c.fetters-walp@boeing.com
To read more about advanced
manufacturing, see the May 2015
issue of Frontiers.
Photos: (Clockwise from top) Lavoris Hawkins,
a material processor requirements facilitator
with 737 Materials Management, works in
Renton’s new centralized parts warehouse;
Lourdes “Liz” Hathaway of 737 Materials
Management checks inventory in the Materials
Marketplace facility in Renton; Frank Hoffman,
left, and Marc Johnson, both of 737 Materials
Management, help manage the flow of
parts through the Materials Marketplace.
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